FOOD REVIEW: Enjoying a big breakfast in beautiful Thame

Breakfast means breakfast at Raymond Blanc's Black Horse in Thame

If a job’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. So when the Black Horse in Thame invited me to review their new breakfast menu, I knew just the people to help, writes Marc Evans.

Like most families with kids, my children can be a bit picky. But stick a hearty, cooked breakfast in front of them, and the chances are it will be demolished with the minimum of fuss, followed by a request for more.

The Black Horse, owned by Raymond Blanc’s White Brasserie Company, has just launched a new Saturday-only menu for what many regard as the most important meal of the day. And make no mistake, this is strictly ‘breakfast’ – not that new upstart of the culinary world ‘brunch’. If you haven’t ordered by 11.30am, then it’s the lunch menu for you.

People can be fussy about their breakfasts. My dad, for example, won’t have tomatoes and mushrooms on the same plate. Others – myself included – frown on the idea of both beans and tomatoes with a full English (surely it’s a case of either/or?).

Luckily, the Black Horse menu has something to suit everyone’s tastes, from the classics to new favourites, British to continental, healthy or indulgent, vegan or carnivore.

A breakfast menu is only as good as its full English, and the one we had (£11.95) was not bad at all. The Cumberland sausage was nice and meaty with a lovely herby taste; the wild mushrooms had a lot more flavour than their common-or-garden counterparts; the beans were Heinz; there was nicely fried black pudding; there’s two free range eggs, cooked however you want them (we had them fried and poached, and all their yolks were perfectly runny; the sourdough toast was the perfect accompaniment; the rasher of back bacon divided opinion – my wife thought it was overcooked and leathery, while I would always err on the side of crispy over soggy when it comes to bacon; but the star of the show was the tomato.

Never has a humble sliced tomato earned such rave reviews as the one we tucked into. Slow cooked with a hint of garlic and seasoning, it intensified its sweetness and exploded with juiciness. But you’ll have to savour it, as you only get one half each – we all agreed that we could have demolished a plate full of them on a slice or two of that lovely sourdough toast.

There was a generous portion of Scottish smoked salmon on a mound of fluffy, free range scrambled eggs, and more sourdough toast. A classic dish, treated with reverence.

The avocado, though, was a revelation to me. It was delicious – mashed on toast, spiked with onion and chilli, topped with yielding poached eggs, and decorated with peppery watercress. Zingy and vibrant, it’s no wonder this dish has caught on.

Child No.2 also couldn’t decide – between the full English and the cinnamon French toast (£8.25) – so we ending up sharing.

Elevating ‘eggy bread’ up a notch, this had sweet brioche, fried in batter, coated in cinnamon sugar, and served with a tangy and tart mixed berry compote. The natural yoghurt that was supposed to accompany it never arrived, but wasn’t missed.

We washed it all down with tea, coffee, hot chocolate and a spicy Virgin Mary. Much as I would have loved to have tried the Eggs Benedict (£8.50), there was simply no room left in my stomach. Next time, maybe.

There’s also house granola or a fruit platter to choose from if you’re feeling virtuous, or croissants, pain au chocolat or pain aux raisin from the boulangerie, in a nod to M Blanc.

Service was excellent – friendly and helpful – and there was even free dog biscuits and a bowl of water for our hound (this is very much a dog-friendly pub, as opposed to a dog-tolerant one).

As a first-time visitor to the lovely town of Thame, the Black Horse has left a wonderful impression on me.

I’m sure there must be better ways of spending a relaxing Saturday morning than sitting in this beautiful pub’s idyllic conservatory with the sun streaming through, tucking into a fry-up. But, at the moment, I can’t think of any.

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